The FastDay Forum

Has anyone else stuggled to 5:2 successfully over the cold months?

There have been a few life changes and a few mini-dramas since August that haven't helped. However, I have come to the conclusion that the cold weather and dark evenings are the main cause of my 1 st weight gain over the winter. The sun came out yesterday and with it some diet and exercise motivation!

I have found the winter tough too, I had a bit of a splurge over Christmas and still haven't got back to my pre festive weight. The fasts were ok it was the other 5 days that were a problem
A sunny day makes soo much difference

Don't get me started......

I currently feel like a big fat failure.....

Having done this for just over a year I haven't found the weather makes a difference. Indeed, after our hot summer I'm yearning for winter.

Oi @Domane Fat?? You??

It's how I feel, Sian.... I know, I know..... but it's probably the guilt. I know rationally if I look in the mirror I am a LOT smaller than I used to be.... but I know I'm bigger than I was 3 months ago too......

Settle down girl. Perspective. I'm the same so quit the guilt and we'll ride this out together :0)

I'm in the same boat. Cannot get back to my pre-xmas lowest weight. Just have to keep on going I suppose I've only lost 0.5lbs in a month, it is disheartening.

[carieoates]

Well get this girls. I got back to my pre Christmas and op low.
But now I'm stuck and slowly rising, now I've got the hot water working again I going to have a run on my dread thrill @Pennyforthem (love your pet name for your tread mill) after I've prepped the dinner.

We had a beautiful (chilly) sunny day for the first time in ages today and I can't tell you how much that has changed my mood! The kids have been picking up on it too. I'm happy I'm fasting, I'm excited for the summer and I can't wait to look hot in a bikini

Then when it rains/snows tomorrow (likely - I live in the north east) I'll probably eat loads of crap and cry about being fat. Funny how much weather can influence your mood isn't it?

What do you know...I step off the bus and it starts p****ing it down!!!!

[carorees]

I found this study: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7190172
It found that people tend to choose lower calorie foods in late spring and summer. I wonder if this tendency is enough, on feast days, to slow/prevent weight loss?

Then there's this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22705092
Shows that diet changes and weight increases during winter.

I also found studies suggesting an increase in cortisol in winter (which tends to make fat burning harder as cortisol acts to keep the body sugar burning) and also a possible decrease in thyroid hormone in winter so making our calorie requirements a bit lower.

Brilliant! Many thanks Carorees for confirming what we're feeling with solid science.
Ploughing on as ever :0)

Me too with knobs on. Steady gain from October despite trying various different approaches. The sun was out today on my run, and I'm feeling positive now.

I wonder if we tend to want more comfort food in the winter as a biological urge-type thing - many years ago a bit of extra 'padding' in the winter would have been no bad thing. We are probably the only animals now (apart from domestic pets) that don't need to pack on weight for the winter - watch the squirrels stuffing their faces in October! - but maybe that's one inbuilt thing that we can't shift.

It stands to reason really, especially here in cold, dark, damp Blighty, that we want to cosy up with hot chocolate and toast in the winter time and are more inclined to eat salads and fruit in the summer months when it's available. I've always thought starting a diet in January was a terrible idea - it's the most miserable month in every other way! March or even April would be a better start month.

But at least fasting gives you a way of being able to mitigate those biological things - although I have been packing away enough chocolate over the last few weeks to cancel out any fasting benefits!